“No!” Shirley lunged forward, head down, and bulled into Stephanie, coming up under the swinging arc of the stone. The rock flew out of Stephanie’s grip, and the air whooshed out of her with a soft explosion of sound. She flew backward and hit the grass sprawling. With one swift movement, Shirley whirled and snatched up the radio, snapping the aerial with a sharp ping. Raising it high above her head, she hurled it against the rocks in the rushing waters of the creek. Then, like a deer pursued by a pack of wolves, she crossed the water in one splashing leap and disappeared into the trees.

Stephanie was on her hands and knees, gasping for breath, when Charles Metcalf came pounding up. He helped her to her feet. “What’s the matter? What happened?”

“Shirley!” Stephanie managed to gasp. Her cry had aroused the camp, and the others were coming quickly through the trees.

Metcalf looked around. “What about Shirley? Is she hurt? Where is she?”

Stephanie shook her head, then blurted out the words between desperate gulps of air. “She ran—she was broadcasting—to Shalev. She told them—about Eric coming. I was too late—couldn’t stop her.”

Stephanie’s mother and Adrienne Robertson had arrived in time to listen to the gasping account, and her mother’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh, no!”

Metcalf ran several yards upstream, his head turning quickly as he searched the night. Then he spotted the canvas bundle in the water. He retrieved the dripping hulk and set it down on the ground to examine it.

“We’ve got to warn Eric,” Stephanie cried. “It’s a trap.”

“Nobody is going to warn anybody,” Metcalf replied. “Not with this.”

“That means Joe Jensen is probably one of them too.” That was from Darla Kooska, whose husband was with the men.

“Yes,” Stephanie said, gradually getting her breath back. “She said Joe will call Travis as soon as they’re down there.” She turned to her mother, her face stricken. “We’ve got to warn them!”

Metcalf shook his head and stood up, giving the radio a disgusted kick. “Both Eric and Clayne went down prepared for trouble. We can’t do anything for them now. But we’ve got to get out of here. We have to assume Shirley told them where we are. We don’t dare assume otherwise.” He turned quickly. “All right, everybody, you know your jobs. We’ve trained for this very thing. Let’s go.”

He took Stephanie’s arm. “If your mother helps with Dr. Cameron, can you handle the children?”

“Of course.”

As one body, the frightened little group turned and ran for camp.

“Shirley called in!” Travis nearly shouted into the phone. “Eric is on his way here now.”

“Great!” the Major said. “I’ll be right down.”